tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2817706966082941142024-02-07T15:00:37.997-05:00The Joy Of Food: One Eater's JourneyThis blog examines my search for balance in life, focused through the lens of my passion for food.Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-34800722673859027152015-04-21T20:40:00.002-04:002015-04-21T20:50:02.117-04:00Childhood Nostalgia: Pineapple Upside Down Cake<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What could be better than a decades-old memory brought back to life in living flavor?</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11011007_10153341838779203_5035595702586241017_n.jpg?oh=9e44e144ab0891cbda728651e5c41069&oe=55D95A59&__gda__=1440496028_574f807ee3b1c12ef31c3f940e4452ae" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11011007_10153341838779203_5035595702586241017_n.jpg?oh=9e44e144ab0891cbda728651e5c41069&oe=55D95A59&__gda__=1440496028_574f807ee3b1c12ef31c3f940e4452ae" width="400" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let me start by making one thing clear: I'm not one to have lots of fond food-related childhood memories. The reasons for this don't belong on this post, however. This post is about one shining example of childhood imprinting on the subject of taste, history, and process, as pertains to one particular food. In this case, it is pineapple upside down cake.<br /><br />I remember being a very young child, growing up in Caracas, Venezuela. The year was 1970 or 1971, so I was 5 or 6. My mother had recently acquired her first set of matching cookware. It was a set of Wear-Ever stainless steel pots and pans. I recall thinking that they were so pretty. Not only were they shiny and neat, they looked like they all belonged together, despite being different shapes and sizes. A family of saucepans, skillets, and lids.<br /><br />The set came with a booklet containing mostly recipes. Of all the recipes on it, I only recall one: the pineapple upside down cake. I remember being able to read it, and I was so proud that I could "help" Mom by telling her what ingredients she needed, and what to do next. <br /><br />I remember specifically the big frying pan with straight-up sides (I have learned since that it most likely was a 3-quart sauté pan), which went straight into the oven with the whole mess of pineapple slices, sugar, cherries, flour, and eggs, and came out as a wonderful gooey thing that made a resounding *PLOP* when turned over onto a plate. I remember the buttery flavor of the cake, the crispy texture of the topping, the way the maraschino cherries peeked out of the center of the pineapple slices, and how the kitchen smelled when it baked.<br /><br />Amazingly enough, I can safely wager that it had been nearly 30 years since I last ate any pineapple upside down cake at all, and I can certainly say that I had never made one before.<br /><br />But, a few days ago, in a fit of childhood nostalgia, I decided I wanted to make one. You'd think that it would be as simple as finding a recipe, buying the ingredients I didn't already have on hand, and going to town. But things are rarely that simple. On the recipe front, I decided I needed to go straight to the source, so I called my mother to ask her if she remembered making the cake, and whether there was anything special about it. She said she lost that booklet years ago, but she sent me another recipe she had used throughout the years, from a 1972 Danbury Press collection named "Grand Diplôme Cooking Course". This recipe lacked the brown sugar topping I remembered, so I decided not to use it.<br /><br />I took my search to the good old Internet. I found a site named <a href="http://toriavey.com/">Tory Avey: Inspired by Our Delicious Past</a>. The site featured a page on <a href="http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2013/07/pineapple-upside-down-cake-history-recipe/#comment-211843">Pineapple Upside Down Cake</a>, with history of the upside down cake in America and the world, as well as two different recipes. for the pineapple variety. <br /><br />I chose to use the main recipe, as it was the one that most resembled my memories of the classic dessert: brown sugar topping, buttery basic cake batter, creaming sugar/butter as the first step. The only fundamental difference between my setup and the one I remember from decades ago was the fact that I used a 10" cast iron skillet, rather than a stainless steel sauté pan. <br /><br />The results were simply outstanding. From the delightful aroma permeating the house, to the golden surface of the cake layer, and, best of all, the satisfying noise of the gooey topping releasing from the bottom of the pan as I turned the cake onto the plate. <br /><br />When I tasted it, I was six years old again. That's all.<br /><br />Here is the recipe I used. I made only one modification to the original from Tory Avey, in that I used a whole cup of dark brown sugar for the topping, rather than 3/4 cup light brown sugar and 1/4 cup dark brown that Tory Avey calls for.<br /><br />TOPPING INGREDIENTS:</span><br />
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">¼ cup </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">unsalted butter, melted (½ stick/2 ounces/60 grams)</span></span></li>
<li><span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 cup dark brown sugar (5.75 ounces/170 grams)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7 canned </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">pineapple slices (½-inch thick), drained, or fresh pineapple slices</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7 </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">maraschino cherries, or 7 pecan or walnut halves</span></span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">BATTER INGREDIENTS:</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li class="ingredient" itemprop="ingredients" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1¾ cups </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">all-purpose flour, sifted, or ¾ cup all-purpose flour and ¾ cup cake flour (7.5 ounces/210 grams)</span></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" itemprop="ingredients" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1½ teaspoons </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">double-acting baking powder</span></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" itemprop="ingredients" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">½ teaspoon </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">salt</span></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" itemprop="ingredients" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">½ teaspoon </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ground cinnamon</span></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" itemprop="ingredients" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">½ cup </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">unsalted butter softened (1 stick/4 ounces/115 grams)</span></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" itemprop="ingredients" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">¾ cup </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">granulated sugar (5.25 ounces/150 grams)</span></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" itemprop="ingredients" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2</span> <span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">large eggs (6 tablespoons/3.5 ounces/100 grams)</span></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" itemprop="ingredients" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1½ teaspoons </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">vanilla extract </span></span></li>
<li class="ingredient" itemprop="ingredients" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="amount" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">½ cup </span><span class="name" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">pineapple juice or milk (4.25 ounces/120 grams)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<ul itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li class="instruction" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F (325°F for a convection oven).</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In a 9- to 10-inch ovenproof skillet (it will produce flared sides) or 10-inch round baking pan (for straight sides), stir in the butter and brown sugar, then spread the mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan.</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Arrange pineapple slices on the pan, starting by placing one slice in the center, and placing 6 slices around the center slice. If you use a 9- or 10-inch pan, there will only be room for the seven slices, and the appearance of your cake will be the classic array. Place a cherry or nut half in the center of each pineapple slice.</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<ul itemprop="recipeInstructions" style="border: 0px; line-height: 24px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li class="instruction" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like this:<br /><br /><a href="https://scontent-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/v/t1.0-9/11070088_10153341838419203_8015530806522700971_n.jpg?oh=c60a2b704eb50ff6ec11eb725f8a7946&oe=55D74968" imageanchor="1" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://scontent-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/v/t1.0-9/11070088_10153341838419203_8015530806522700971_n.jpg?oh=c60a2b704eb50ff6ec11eb725f8a7946&oe=55D74968" width="400" /></a></span></li>
<li class="instruction" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In a medium size bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. If you don't have a sifter, you can use a medium-mesh sieve. Confession time: I actually use a whisk in order to sift dry ingredients for baking.<br /><br />In an stand mixer bowl, or in a large bowl with a handheld mixer, beat the butter on low speed until soft and creamy, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium. Add the sugar gradually, and beat until fluffy, about 4 minutes. </span></li>
<li class="instruction" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Beat the eggs in one at a time, scraping down the bowl fully after each egg. After the eggs are fully incorporated, add the vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.<br /><br />Add the dry ingredients and pineapple juice in alternating portions, 4 portions dry ingredients, 3 portions juice, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Stir on slow until it is completely blended.<br /><br />Pour the batter over the pineapple topping:</span></li>
<li class="instruction" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://scontent-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/11101620_10153341838554203_3668318991666675117_n.jpg?oh=e9ed143bf443f7d9ec1187b1e41bc1a6&oe=559F2358" imageanchor="1" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://scontent-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/11101620_10153341838554203_3668318991666675117_n.jpg?oh=e9ed143bf443f7d9ec1187b1e41bc1a6&oe=559F2358" width="400" /></span></a></li>
<li class="instruction" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bake the cake at 350º Fahrenheit, until a toothpick comes out clean, 45-55 minutes. The top of the cake will be golden:</span></li>
<li class="instruction" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10418968_10153341838654203_2818254513928404150_n.jpg?oh=4850a2335bff2d64dcc9a65ad5836a2a&oe=559A5EEF&__gda__=1436046992_8854ce2129eb676bed6e467ea807d8f5" imageanchor="1" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10418968_10153341838654203_2818254513928404150_n.jpg?oh=4850a2335bff2d64dcc9a65ad5836a2a&oe=559A5EEF&__gda__=1436046992_8854ce2129eb676bed6e467ea807d8f5" width="400" /></a></span></li>
<li class="instruction" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Remove from the oven and let the cake cool on a rack inside the pan, for about 15 minutes. When cooled, turn over onto a serving plate:<br /><br /><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11011007_10153341838779203_5035595702586241017_n.jpg?oh=9e44e144ab0891cbda728651e5c41069&oe=55D95A59&__gda__=1440496028_574f807ee3b1c12ef31c3f940e4452ae" imageanchor="1" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11011007_10153341838779203_5035595702586241017_n.jpg?oh=9e44e144ab0891cbda728651e5c41069&oe=55D95A59&__gda__=1440496028_574f807ee3b1c12ef31c3f940e4452ae" width="400" /></a></span></li>
<li class="instruction" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></li>
<li class="instruction" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Serve warm or at room temperature.<br /><br />A NOTE ABOUT SLICING: The way the pineapple slices are arranged in this cake requires that it be sliced in 1/6 or 1/12 pieces. Cut through the center slice, and keep cutting outward, lining up the knife either between the outer slices, or exactly through the middle of one of the outer slices. Please don't try to cut it anywhere else. You will experience the heartbreak of squishing down the pineapple and ruining perfection. Don't do it.</span></li>
<li class="instruction" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></li>
<li class="instruction" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Enjoy!</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-40176204186434938972013-11-21T21:12:00.000-05:002013-11-21T22:02:00.715-05:00Real Men Eat (Sausage, Broccoli, and Cheddar) QuicheA dear friend once accused me of "fixing cars and baking cakes." I suppose he was referring to the manner in which I blithely prance across gender lines, at least in how I apply my skill set. I simply have never seen any reason to limit the things I am willing to do based on something as irrelevant as chromosome status.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is why, when I encounter someone who does something that requires more effort than I am willing to put forth, I say "you're a braver man than I am." 300-pound deadlifts come to mind. I simply don't have the balls for it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But, I digress. This whole discussion of gender roles as limiting factors is nothing but a cute way to introduce tonight's dinner (and tomorrow's breakfast): Sausage, Broccoli, and Cheddar Quiche.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Quiche is one of those dishes that can be enjoyed any time of day. The egg base says breakfast, the pastry crust says lunch, the fillings can speak to a light supper, or more substantial if you are accompanying it with a bowl of hearty soup or plan to follow it with a rich dessert.<br />
<br />
This one follows a simple formula I found online: a custard made with 6 eggs, 1 cup heavy whipping cream, and 8 oz shredded cheese. This formula yields a very creamy and dense filling, which holds up well when hot, and is decadently goopy when refrigerated (one of my avowed guilty pleasures).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I often make crust-free quiches, but tonight I chose to go whole-hog and make a crust. You can use a premade crust if you don't feel confident in your pastry-making abilities, but a crust from scratch is quite simple.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I used a false-bottomed 9" quiche pan, a full 2" tall. This makes it easier to slice and serve. But a deep pie plate will work just as well. However, be mindful that you do not overfill a shallow pie plate. <br />
<br />
Now, the method:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Preheat oven to 375º Fahrenheit</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>CRUST:</b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour</li>
<li>4 oz (1 stick) butter (I used salted), chilled, and cut into 1/2" dice</li>
<li>1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)</li>
<li>1/4 cup ice water</li>
</ul>
<div>
In a food processor (or in a bowl using a pastry cutter), blend together the butter, salt, and flour, until it has the appearance of cornmeal. Continuing to blend, slowly add in the ice water, until the dough begins to hold together. Now, at this point, most recipes will tell you to wrap the dough ball in plastic and refrigerate for half an hour or more. I didn't do this. I was hungry. <br />
<br />
Sprinkle your counter with flour and roll out the dough into a circle approximately 13" in diameter. It won't be perfect Don't stress. If there are bits missing from one end and sticking from the other end, just use moist fingers to pick up the extra bit from one side and stick it on the other side.<br />
<br />
Line your pie plate or quiche pan with the pie crust. Make sure you press the dough firmly against the bottom and sides of the pan. Trim the edge of the crust. You can save the trimmings and make mini pies or just accumulate them for a future frugal quiche or pie crust. <br />
<br />
Many recipes tell you to blind-bake your crust. This is not necessary, so don't even bother looking it up.<br />
<br />
<b>FILLING:</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>1 pound breakfast sausage</li>
<li>1 medium onion, finely diced</li>
<li>1 pound broccoli florets, thawed, chopped, and drained</li>
<li>6 eggs</li>
<li>1 cup (8 fluid ounces) heavy whipping cream</li>
<li>8 ounces grated cheddar cheese</li>
<li>Salt and pepper to taste</li>
</ul>
<div>
In a heavy skillet, crumble and brown the breakfast sausage along with the onion. When the onion is soft and translucent, remove from the heat and add the chopped/drained broccoli. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.<br />
<br />
In a large bowl, mix the eggs and cream. Add in the cheese and sausage/broccoli mixture. Stir until well mixed. Season with salt and pepper.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Pour the filling into the crust, and bake at 375º for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until set and golden on top. The quiche is cooked when it springs back to the touch, or when a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. If you have an <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80100406/">instant-read thermometer</a>, check that the internal temperature is at least 160º F.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Remove from oven and allow to cool at least 20 minutes before serving. I don't want anyone blaming me for their case of "quiche mouth." </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/q74/s720x720/1472888_10152097439539203_2115147778_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/q74/s720x720/1472888_10152097439539203_2115147778_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-59852702340924387232013-02-04T02:41:00.001-05:002013-07-01T14:59:35.816-04:00When in Doubt, Eat More Fat... Part 1: Homemade Greek Style Yogurt<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"When in doubt, eat more fat."</span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's a phrase I've been using for over a decade, since my years as an Atkins dieter. It has the lovely ring of dietary defiance in the face of our modern low-fat dogma. Six syllables that make most casual readers and listeners react as if merely hearing them would make their arteries slam shut instantly.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">However, throughout my vagaries in the dietary and culinary world, and across the dietary continuum, the phrase has held fast as a basic principle of my lifestyle. No matter how I choose to care for myself, a generous proportion of dietary fat, especially saturated animal fat, is an ever-present element in my daily menu. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Whether this is scientifically sound or medically advisable, it is not my place to say. It is my personal preference, and I have excellent health markers to assuage any apprehensions my health practitioner may have about these choices.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">However, we live in a world where people have been convinced that dietary fat is the enemy, not only to their waistlines, but to their hearts, arteries, and lives. Somehow the public has been sold the line that if they eat fat, every single molecule will turn into The Blob inside and outside of them. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This has resulted in our supermarket shelves being taken over by all sorts of defatted products claiming to be suitable substitutes for the unmodified thing. Low-fat mayonnaise, salad dressing, cheese slices, hot cocoa packets, and, of course, yogurt. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Yogurt, dear yogurt. Humans figured out somewhere along the way that fresh milk they extracted from their captive mammals didn't stay fresh for long, and they decided to make the best of it by taking spoiled milk, calling it food, and eating it.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Somewhere in the middle of the 20th century, yogurt gained popularity in the United States by being touted as a health food. And, on many levels, rightly so. Yogurt is nutritious, easy to eat and to digest (f you're not lactose intolerant), and versatile. A cup of yogurt can buy you a few hours between hunger and your next solid meal. Yogurt it can be either eaten straight up, or mixed with all manner of sweet and savory elements, and it can do duty as breakfast, snack, lunch, dinner, dessert, salad dressing, or cupcake topping. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Nowadays, even the smallest and sparsest grocery store boasts DOZENS of yogurt varieties, an overwhelming array of brands and flavors, package sizes, colors, real and imagined languages, and health enhancing claims (Activia, anyone?).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As of the past decade, "Greek style" yogurt has skyrocketed in popularity. This type of yogurt is nothing more than regular yogurt that has been strained through a fine sieve or cheesecloth to remove half the water content. Richer, thicker, tastier than unstrained yogurt. Once you have become accustomed to Greek yogurt, regular yogurt tastes like a watery, runny mess.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">99% of these yogurts are fat-free. Worn as an obligatory badge of validity, the number ZERO is proudly displayed on each package, wooing potential buyers with the promise of a tasty and nutritious tidbit without the threat of increased ass girth.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">There are a few brands out there that offer whole-milk yogurt, but even those haven't been immune to the low-fat tide. FAGE, which has been the one brand in which those of us seeking a respite from the avalanche of fat-free yogurts, has "improved the nutritional profile" of their ORIGINAL formula by cutting the fat IN HALF. Two years ago, a cup of FAGE had 260 calories, 200 of which were from tasty, delicious butterfat. The current formula has 220 calories, only 100 of which are from fat.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Sigh.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Not to mention that the average price for a quart of high-quality yogurt is about eight bucks in early 2013, I had to take matters into my own hands. I decided to start making my own. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Finding out how to do it wasn't difficult. The web is full of do-it-yourself blogs for anything from eco-conscious friendship bracelets to bacon-based architecture. How to make your own Greek style yogurt yielded dozens of sites.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The basic procedure is the same for all of the recipes. Heat up milk to kill any unwanted bacteria, bring it down to a temperature that will allow the culture to grow without killing it, add some old yogurt, and ignore it overnight. Chill thoroughly, strain for several hours (up to a day) and then serve.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Many recipes are made with reduced-fat or skim milk, and they seek to enrich the texture by adding powdered nonfat milk, gelatin, or other additives. Please, if you want your yogurt to taste better, you might consider going in the other direction.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When I tried my first batch, I chose a very basic recipe, which uses only milk, yogurt, a pot, an oven light, and a colander lined with cheesecloth. I made a few batches this way, and it was a satisfactory outcome. One day, I was low on whole milk, so I used a mixture of 50% milk, and 50% half-and-half. Much as I say "when in doubt, eat more fat," it was a bit of butterfat overkill. Still, the addition of extra cream had some merit, so I played with the mixture a bit more.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I ended up with the following recipe:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">7 cups whole milk. Use whatever milk you like, organic, industrial, raw, pasteurized, I don't care what dietary ideology holds your fancy, just make sure it isn't defatted milk.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">1 cup heavy whipping cream</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">2-3 tablespoons plain yogurt. You will need to use some pre-made yogurt as the starter for your first batch. This will be a good use for that 0% yogurt you are no longer going to be eating. For subsequent batches, you will most likely use the last bit of the previous batch. Or, if you have a Husband like mine, you will need to set aside the next batch's starter before you make the yogurt available for human consumption.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You will also need:</span></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A heavy-bottom saucepan or stock pot able to comfortably hold 2 quarts of liquid</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A digital thermometer (an analog one will do, too, but it doesn't beep, and I like the beep)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">An immersion blender. Don't say a whisk, it won't work the same. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">An oven with a pilot light or light bulb</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A large colander nested into a large bowl</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cloth for straining the yogurt. Most recipes recommend using 4 layers of cheesecloth. I have found out that I can do just as well with a cotton cloth napkin, a clean cotton dishcloth (not terrycloth), or a handkerchief. You can wash and reuse those, rather than having to throw away the cheesecloth after a use or two.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yogurt making is best begun in the evening, a few hours before bed.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place the milk and cream in the saucepan or stock pot, over medium heat. Heat to 180º Fahrenheit. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Let it sit for at least an hour (maybe longer, depending on how warm or cool your kitchen is). When the milk/cream mixture has reached 100-105 degrees, add the plain yogurt. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While the milk cools, turn on your oven to its lowest setting. When it has come up to temperature, turn it off, and turn on the oven light. Some recipes say you can use the pilot light in a gas oven. I have not tested this. The warmth from the light bulb in my electric oven works perfectly.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You will notice that, as the milk cools, it develops a "skin." Early in my yogurt-making days, I would remove it or strain it out, until I realized that I was losing a goodly amount of vital butterfat from my blend every time I did this.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here is where the immersion blender comes in: you want to blend that butterfat back into your yogurt. A whisk can't do this. Trust me, reincorporating that fat into the mix makes the difference between great yogurt, and sublime yogurt. The immersion blender works best. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a glass blender, but, really, better spend $20 at Costco or Sam's and get one of those stick blenders because they do so much so well and you will wonder how on earth you ever lived without one. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Add the yogurt starter into the pot, and blend again.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If you want to use a glass blender, simply pour 1-2 cups of your milk mixture into the glass, and dump the skin in, as well as your yogurt starter. Blend it all up and then stir it back into the pot. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now, cover your pot with its lid, or with a clean dishcloth. Put it in the oven with the light on, close the oven door, and let it sit overnight. I let mine brew for a minimum of 8 hours.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In the morning, the yogurt should have firmed up. Ideally, it looks like the stuff in a tub of old-fashioned Dannon. Pull the pot out of the oven, turn off the oven light, and put the yogurt in the fridge. Let it cool thoroughly. Mine is usually cool enough by early afternoon.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Nest your colander and your bowl, and line the colander with your cheesecloth. Carefully dump the yogurt into the cheesecloth. I say carefully, slowly, so that the weight of the yogurt doesn't make the cheesecloth fold into itself and make you very unhappy trying to dig it out from under the yogurt. When all the yogurt is in the bowl, fold the corners of the cheesecloth on top of it, and place the colander/bowl/yogurt into the fridge. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Check the yogurt every couple of hours and pour out the whey that collects in the bowl. Keep doing this until no more whey comes out of the yogurt. After the first two hours, I also put a flat weight on it (a dessert plate with a heavy bowl on it), to help squeeze out the whey. I like to leave it draining from early afternoon until the next morning. If you can't check it every couple of hours, it's okay, but the whey will pool in the bottom of your bowl and it will come up to your yogurt. You will want to let it sit in the cheesecloth at least a couple of hours after draining it before removing it from the cheesecloth. The point is to remove as much water as possible from the yogurt. It is this absence of water that makes it "Greek style" and gives it that rich texture and flavor. You will lose about half the volume in whey. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So far, my research has not yielded any use for the whey, other than feeding it to pigs or something. I just throw it out.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">After the yogurt has drained sufficiently, scoop it out into a container. If you're both careful and lucky, you'll be able to peel the thick yogurt away from the cheesecloth without having any yogurt left behind. Not only does this maximize your yogurt yield, but it also makes cheesecloth cleanup easier. I can make a batch of cheesecloth last me about 5 batches of yogurt, before it gets totally unraveled.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Enjoy your yogurt with fruit, jam, honey, nuts, as tzatziki sauce, a base for salad dressings, or straight up with a spoon.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This bowl is a common sight in our house, and can appear at any moment in time, and for any meal. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/yogurt/BF1C3BC1-E639-4E05-9457-7AD7386B1727-1943-0000036CB1AC039B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/yogurt/BF1C3BC1-E639-4E05-9457-7AD7386B1727-1943-0000036CB1AC039B.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span>
</div>
Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-28533385524129953302013-02-04T02:07:00.002-05:002013-02-04T02:13:17.084-05:00Go ahead, eat the WHOLE THING! Single-Serving Desserts, Part 2: Individual Cheesecakes<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There are times in life when we need cheesecake. It's that simple. It's not a want, it's a need. Even people who are lactose intolerant, even raw vegans, cannot resist the creamy decadence of this rich dessert, as can be inferred from the profusion of "cheesecake" recipes that comply with various non-ominvorous dietary protocols.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Fortunately for me, I have no need to draw a qualitative line in the sand against cheesecake. But I do draw a quantitative line in the sand against most full-size cheesecake recipes. Seeing as I usually cook for just Husband and myself, I am not interested in making a 12-slice behemoth, which I then either have to face down for weeks, give away to friends and neighbors, or end up throwing in the trash.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There is a special delight in consuming a dessert until it is ALL GONE. Of course, the trick lies in licking and scraping the bottom of the serving dish without ending up needing to shop at Omar The Tentmaker's for my finery. Single-serving desserts address both of these concerns. So, in my continuous effort to find ways of making desserts that will allow me to enjoy the good stuff without getting mired in excess, I spent quite a while looking at blogs and recipe sites for single-serving cheesecakes. I kept running into the usual problem of "large batch recipe baked in a million small molds," as if everyone who wants cheesecake ALWAYS has a dozen people to feed. After much looking, I finally found what I was seeking... in a dieting website, where the members have a vested interest in creating self-limiting indulgences, without running the risks involved in having a lot of leftovers around. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The recipe is simplicity itself. It doesn't have a crust, although you can make a simple crust by grinding a couple of graham crackers, mixing them with a small amount of melted butter, and pressing into the bottom of your ramekins. Because I don't usually buy graham crackers and didn't want to buy a big box of them just for the one recipe, I used a lunchbox snack pack of Barnum Animal Crackers.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This recipe makes two servings. One for Husband, one for me.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 300º F. I use the toaster oven. Boil enough water to fill a small baking pan halfway.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Using a mini food processor, grind 2 oz cookies or graham crackers, and mix in 1-2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter. Divide cookie mixture into two 1/2 cup ramekins and press into the bottom. I used an espresso coffee tamping thingie doodad. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In a tall glass using an immersion blender mix together: </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">4 oz cream cheese, softened (1/2 package)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1 large egg </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1 tablespoon sour cream</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1 teaspoon lemon juice</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2 tablespoons granulated sugar</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Make sure you don't overmix. Overmixing is the main reason cheesecakes crack. Something about the protein in the egg losing elasticity, similar to the way kneading bread dough develops the gluten in the flour. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can try using a fork or a whisk in small bowl. Just don't try to use the electric mixer, unless you are fond of cheesecake splatter as a wallpaper pattern.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Divide mixture into the ramekins where you prepared the crust. Place ramekins in the baking pan, pour boiling water into the pan, and place the pan in the oven. Bake at 300º F for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecakes cool slowly inside it. When they are close to room temperature (approximately an hour later), remove ramekins from oven and place in the refrigerator. Chill overnight before eating.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">You can eat these plain, top with fruit, chocolate ganache, or whipped cream. And you don't even have to share. Go ahead, EAT THE WHOLE THING!!!!!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Single%20serving%20cheesecakes/A6A441A6-F970-41CE-B072-F38717FCE11D-860-000000613025E6A7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Single%20serving%20cheesecakes/A6A441A6-F970-41CE-B072-F38717FCE11D-860-000000613025E6A7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-15515851604746559852012-11-06T14:30:00.001-05:002012-11-06T14:30:30.217-05:00The Family That Eats Together... GETS FAT TOGETHER!!!!<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know right off the bat that the title of this blog entry will be seen as a statement of flaming psycho-social heresy. Don't we always hear "The family that eats together, stays together"? And, what exactly does this mean?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The traditional maxim about familial togetherness implies that eating in the same room at the same time is essential to bonding between family members. It is accepted as a universal truth that communal food consumption is required to establish and maintain genuine communication with our loved ones.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Even when family has successfully performed its function, and raised self-reliant individuals who are running households of their own, separate from their parents, there is the obligatory tradition to reunite during specific times of the year... to do little but inflame old family drama... and EAT. Of course, I contend that a lot of the reason we overeat during family holidays is to distract ourselves from the tensions and conflicts between ourselves and our blood kin, but I digress...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A large portion of my recent reflections about food and eating have had to do with the concept of responding to hunger appropriately. Eating when your body needs fuel, rather than for entertainment, emotional comfort, or social compliance. Eating the amount of food that your body requires to run operations, rather than overeat or undereat for reasons outside of energy requirements. Basically, eating when hungry, and, when hungry, eating.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When we eat in the absence of hunger, and when we do not obey the presence of hunger, the consequences aren't simply levels of physical discomfort associated with out-of-phase digestive functions. Eating without hunger and ignoring and postponing responding to the body's call for fuel will trigger the body's metabolism hormones in ways that, when repeated over time, will manifest in what we are beginning to know as "metabolic syndrome" (weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, etc.).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What does this have to do with eating together as a family?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Before we get to "family," let's examine a nearly universal phenomenon in our world: when single people pair up and form a couple, one or both of the partners will gain weight. The simple and obvious reason is that having someone to eat with is a whole lot more fun than eating alone. And, for that very reason, most of us will concede to eating when we aren't quite hungry, going hungry for a bit longer than we otherwise would, and eat something other than what we would choose independently, all for the sake of eating the same thing, at the same time, in the same room as the other person.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For the sake of convivial and communal eating, we are willing to disregard our bodies' extremely fine-tuned framework of hunger/satiety signals. We will endure hunger, ignore satiety, and turn away from our genuine food preferences, because "eating together" is so important. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">And we accept the ensuing gain of body fat as a "natural" part of the pair-bonding process. I know it. I did it. Husband did it. Virtually every single couple I've known has done this, at least at the start of their relationship.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When a couple has children and becomes a family, this problem gets compounded. I don't have children, but I was a child, and I know that eating/food/meals are a virtual battleground in the majority of families. Even the most level-headed of familial units have an undercurrent of control struggle when it comes to the simple act of refueling the body. Family members are entreated to eat at the designated mealtimes, even when they aren't hungry. Likewise, we are instructed to "wait for dinner," even though we may be hungry for a full meal NOW, and dinner is an hour away. Children are told to clean their plates, even if they are already satiated. The more "desirable" foods, such as ice cream, are withheld until the seemingly punitive fare of carrots and green beans has been consumed. And, of course, when we engage in familial eating, we are more than likely to consume what's being served, whether that is what our bodies are craving or not.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All of these factors contribute to a behavioral paradigm of forcing our eating patterns to comply with directives outside of our bodies' signals for when, how much, and what to eat. The more we focus on those outward guidelines, the more we lose touch with what our bodies are trying to tell us. And it is precisely this disconnect from our natural rhythms which is at the root of our food-based afflictions. We get fat and sick because we eat when we aren't hungry, we don't eat when we are hungry, and we don't pay attention to our bodies when it comes to choosing which foods to consume.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The draw to eat together is very strong, because our culture is largely centered around creating the illusion that convivial eating signifies deeper interpersonal bonds, and consequently a happier existence. However, the important part is to BE together, to SHARE experiences and feelings. Eating in the same room at the same time as our loved ones doesn't make or break our love for each other. Getting fat because we're overriding our bodies on account of eating "together" does undermine our own sense of individual confidence and happiness, however.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I think that the world would be a better place if we were brought up to have prandial independence, and to accept convivial eating as a matter of serendipity, rather than entitlement. We would be individually accountable for responding to our bodies' fuel requirements. We wouldn't be getting angry that our partners aren't eating what we want to eat. We wouldn't be going hungry in order to wait for others to have the time to sit at the table with us. We wouldn't be putting food in our mouths despite not being hungry, just because we're sitting at the table t the same time as the others. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And, more likely than not, far fewer of us would be fat.</span>Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-82387947269344289102012-09-27T21:25:00.000-04:002012-10-02T00:15:48.583-04:00When Hungry, EAT!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One of the earliest entries I wrote on this blog is titled <a href="http://the-joy-of-food.blogspot.com/2010/09/eat-only-when-hungry.html">Eat Only When Hungry</a>. The concept is very simple: eat when you feel the physical need for fuel, and stop eating when that need subsides. It is the basic foundation of a healthy and balanced relationship with food. It's one of those concepts that, along with "everything in moderation" has been so overused in the discourse about health and fitness, it has been reduced to mere platitude, despite its incontrovertible validity.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyone who has sought to heal a damaged relationship with food has some understanding of the damaging effects of eating for reasons other than hunger. We also understand how eating solely to refuel is extremely challenging in a society in which gratuitous eating is ubiquitous, and eating exclusively to meet the body's energy needs is considered nothing short of quaint.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>The part of this equation which is seldom discussed is the not always obvious corollary of always heeding the presence of hunger. </b> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Our society is afflicted by an attitudinal paradox when it comes to eating. Everywhere we turn, there is the perceived obligation to consume food at times other than when our bodies require refueling. To name a few: the birthday cake for the office colleague, the second and third trip to the all-you-can-eat buffet, Halloween/Valentine's/Easter candy, the proverbial "holidays," and even regular meals on an arbitrary schedule.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And, although eating seems to be a ubiquitous, sine-qua-non element in all sorts of social and antisocial situations, eating as an operational priority in the management of our everyday lives has actually been relegated into a very low rung indeed. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We all have been guilty of claiming ourselves "too busy to eat." Every single person I know has said this at some time or another. Skipping breakfast on account of "no time" is a popular mantra, regardless of whether hunger is present or not. Working late into the evening, not responding to the body's call for fuel until it becomes a full-throttled scream that goes beyond the form of a grumbling belly and eventually morphs into our inability to continue that which was keeping us from eating in the first place. "I have a job, I have kids, I have..." Sound familiar? We let our perception of being "needed" by things and people outside of ourselves interfere with the primary form of physical sustenance that enables us to meet those requirements. We conveniently forget that, if we don't give our bodies adequate fuel, the job suffers, the kids suffer, everything suffers. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, we are pulled in two directions: </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The social imperative to constantly eat for a myriad reasons, all of which are dissociated from the body's physical needs</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The de-prioritization of refueling ourselves within the hierarchy of our daily activities. </span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Not content with eating for non-fueling reasons, or with disregarding the body's cry for nutritional replenishment, we often combine the two, in an unabashed orgy of misguided behaviors. We decline to eat all day in order to "save room" for that special food or event later in the day. We skip lunch because we're going out for burgers and drinks with the colleagues. We survive all day on black coffee in anticipation of date night at a fancy restaurant. And, of course, we endeavor not to eat at all for about nine days prior to Thanksgiving.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What these two tendencies have in common is that they are both manifestations of disrespecting both the absence and the presence of physical hunger, in favor of societally or circumstantially imposed factors.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wholeheartedly believe that this ubiquitous disconnect from our bodies and our sense of genuine hunger/satiety is at the root of the epidemic of obesity and associated diseases that plagues the Western world. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Most of the health, nutrition, and fitness literature which deals with appropriate eating (in the presence of hunger) versus inappropriate eating (in the absence of hunger) focuses solely on how detrimental it is to eat in the absence of the need for fuel. On the flip side of the issue, only the "Intuitive Eating" movement (with which I have a love-hate relationship, for reasons that I won't expound here) is the ONLY source where the concept of paying attention to hunger promptly and appropriately is even examined. "Honor your hunger," is what they call it. I feel that the sentiment needs slightly stronger language. "Respect your hunger," or even better, "OBEY your hunger."</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I can't emphasize enough the importance of this much-neglected matter. It is an issue of basic self-care, and sensible operational logistics. You don't hear anyone saying "I have to drive from New York to Chicago by tomorrow afternoon, but I don't have time to stop for gas." If you tried that, you just wouldn't make it. It's that simple. And yet we have no compunction about pushing our bodies to run on fumes until that project is completed, or until we have gotten to Chicago after a 16-hour drive (during which we *DID* feed the car proper fuel, but we made do with a bag of chips). Why do we treat our objects better than we treat ourselves?</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We should respect our hunger, because it is not only the kindest, but also the most efficient and healthful way to treat our bodies. And, if self-love and self-care don't resonate with you, then consider this: ignoring hunger costs you money and makes you fat. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How so? you may ask. I'm eating only one meal a day! Doesn't that limit the calories I'm consuming? Well, not really (even if you do indeed believe in calories in/calories out): </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Neglected hunger escalates and becomes increasingly difficult to satiate with an appropriate amount of food. We've all been there. We have waited too long to eat, or eaten too little beforehand, and we arrive at the table ravenous, unable to stop shoveling food in until we are uncomfortably stuffed.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We become indiscriminate in our food choices, and our sense of physical urgency often leads us to eat whatever is closest at hand, which is likely to be overpriced restaurant or convenience store food.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We are inclined to buy excess food which, if we don't end up overeating, ends up in the trash. More wasted money.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It unleashes a hormonal reaction in the body which prompts it to lower metabolism and increase the percentage of fuel that gets stored away for future famine. </span></li>
</ol>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yes, famine. Even if you have extra fat on you, every time you experience hunger and do not address it promptly with appropriate fuel, your body goes into a state of elemental panic. It slows down energy output, and it opens up the fat-storage gates in order to receive new deposits as soon as you eat again.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now, I am not one of those science-wanking bloggers who can quote all sorts of studies and data to support such statements. I don't need to, because there are writers aplenty out there who already do this, and I know well enough to leave that kind of thing to the experts. All I know is that the most fattening thing I've ever done in my life is to go hungry without eating. Hands down the most fattening, far above binging on Häagen Dazs, or the entire period between Halloween and Valentine's Day on any given year.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">An occasional, sporadic "got too busy and skipped lunch" isn't terribly damaging. It is the ongoing pattern of daily disregarding the body's call for fuel that is the real problem. Neglected hunger ends up escalating into a bottomless, insatiable pit, and a lowered metabolism, which delivers a double whammy of driving us to eat way above our body's needs, and decreased metabolism, which turns that excess into twice the blubber it could have been in the case of a mere occasional overindulgence. And I'm not going to go into the physical and emotional fallout from becoming overweight and obese. There's plenty of writing out there on that.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If we use a 1-10 hunger scale, in which 1 is "about to eat the cat" and 10 is "so full I can't even breathe," you should never let your hunger reach below a 3 (Very hungry). Ideally, you should start procuring food when you are at a level 4 (starting to get hungry but patient enough to take the time to seek or prepare food). And, as stated in "Eat Only When Hungry," stop when you reach a 5-6 (neutral, wouldn't stop what I'm doing in order to eat).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In this age of round-the-clock access to food, avoiding excess hunger should be nigh on impossible. But, the reality is that it does take some forethought and planning in order not to allow ourselves to be caught short on the go. The first thing we need to do is to prioritize fuel for ourselves. We need to accept that, if we aren't operating our bodies effectively, we won't be able to perform optimally in any capacity. On the practical level, this means making time and room in order to eat promptly and appropriately. If you know that you're going to be on the run, bring a portable meal or a substantial snack along, so that you can respond to hunger, even in the whirlwind of other activities. Prioritize eating regular meals rather than pushing off refueling until the end of the day (or the completion of XYZ). </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">When we work in harmony with our bodies, rather than fight against them, we will find that many things in life go a bit smoother. We manage stress more easily when we are adequately fed. We have a decreased tendency to become ill. We have more physical endurance. And we are more likely to maintain a healthy physique.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So, next time you are about to say to yourself "I don't have time for lunch," think again, and have a sandwich.</span></div>
</div>
Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-60586756885823778852012-09-01T08:26:00.006-04:002012-10-02T12:23:11.046-04:00Go ahead, eat the WHOLE THING! Single-Serving Desserts, Part 1: Flourless Chocolate Ramekins<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In this blog, I have talked a few times about the balancing act between hedonism and self-care, between indulging the senses and respecting the body's limitations. There is a fine line separating enjoyment from excess, and one of my aims in life is to stay more on this side of it than the other.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">From time to time, I will have a hankering for a rich and decadent dessert, which I most frequently satisfy by diving into a Manhattan pastry shop. I like to tell myself that I could do it when I go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant, but the reality is that, by the time dessert would have rolled around during a dinner outing, I no longer have any desire for any food. What can I say? I'm in love with meat.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When cooking at home, I am disinclined to make desserts because most recipes serve 8-12. Even though I am a hedonist through and through, I also have limited capacity, not only in terms of metabolizing sweets, but in how long I can remain interested in the same item. The reality is that, if I make a large cake, I will have one piece, and most of it will end up at the office, because otherwise, it would end up in the trash.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, I've looked into recipes for single-serving desserts. They aren't easy to find. Many times, they are large recipes that someone has poured into single-serving containers or muffin tins, but which are still written in terms of 8+ servings, and aren't easily scalable, especially in terms of baking times.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My friend Charles shared with me an awesome flourless chocolate torte recipe, which I made twice in the full-size version. Both times, I ended up giving away 3/4 of it because it was going neglected at home after the initial rush of delight. Fortunately, the ingredients in this simple recipe (eggs, butter, chocolate) are in multiples of 8. No racking my brain to figure out how to divide 5 eggs to make 8 single servings...</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I divided the whole recipe by 8 and came up with a basic formula for a rich, indulgent treat that allows me the luxury of finishing the whole thing without exceeding my body's capacity.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For each serving, you will need:</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 large egg at room temperature</span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf8juYZbitCCirrT_lfkBMiXbRYThNJHQXQzRMg_apsnEFdexOCV-RKTgjcgdcL09bOCg1jAsC-7MveJnjYETF-hiqHbuFINI2ARw5wrDnRCoA6aNQorJ4dMt6SSK1cGx563W_GRvs8G8/s1600/IMG_1631.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf8juYZbitCCirrT_lfkBMiXbRYThNJHQXQzRMg_apsnEFdexOCV-RKTgjcgdcL09bOCg1jAsC-7MveJnjYETF-hiqHbuFINI2ARw5wrDnRCoA6aNQorJ4dMt6SSK1cGx563W_GRvs8G8/s320/IMG_1631.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 oz high quality chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)</span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHphX7y32OmrK0EW0vN3PCY64C-gzwVFT8zHsR_gdE5-dt_YU2qDWWsMF0D2erhuy8m8YbTkR2CbPXYOjTWH8Z9ClXCs2BZqve9mHz50Ks7uDiOqnbD0un3ooaLk6V4vXCzY_h_PqC47w/s1600/IMG_1627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHphX7y32OmrK0EW0vN3PCY64C-gzwVFT8zHsR_gdE5-dt_YU2qDWWsMF0D2erhuy8m8YbTkR2CbPXYOjTWH8Z9ClXCs2BZqve9mHz50Ks7uDiOqnbD0un3ooaLk6V4vXCzY_h_PqC47w/s320/IMG_1627.jpg" width="240" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHphX7y32OmrK0EW0vN3PCY64C-gzwVFT8zHsR_gdE5-dt_YU2qDWWsMF0D2erhuy8m8YbTkR2CbPXYOjTWH8Z9ClXCs2BZqve9mHz50Ks7uDiOqnbD0un3ooaLk6V4vXCzY_h_PqC47w/s1600/IMG_1627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 oz (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter </span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Zs6zjZjKNJTzORLPtkV4Ghh7iUAmxHVXBTuS6V0P235l8L49NWbE4Xasy_0OKMEfgpq6rRNKXFELNJdVldkvaAaB12VZzUDdW02cU9KxpDomOF-ulmgEeu0z0js8wGgz82HVvPFREWA/s1600/IMG_1629.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Zs6zjZjKNJTzORLPtkV4Ghh7iUAmxHVXBTuS6V0P235l8L49NWbE4Xasy_0OKMEfgpq6rRNKXFELNJdVldkvaAaB12VZzUDdW02cU9KxpDomOF-ulmgEeu0z0js8wGgz82HVvPFREWA/s320/IMG_1629.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Vanilla extract (optional) </span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxPzPb95t-gJz6nrkkT8NV6G7OSZY2T9aXgSqOHvdHRGBSOFOht4JUKRXwdeNQkuCX-n7IibrxFke1bN2CK9GvOfspMAs84F73QJ8qFBdGk4Oalkybdc30gUtXMkXL5FC02A-P_s_rgy4/s1600/IMG_1632.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxPzPb95t-gJz6nrkkT8NV6G7OSZY2T9aXgSqOHvdHRGBSOFOht4JUKRXwdeNQkuCX-n7IibrxFke1bN2CK9GvOfspMAs84F73QJ8qFBdGk4Oalkybdc30gUtXMkXL5FC02A-P_s_rgy4/s320/IMG_1632.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: left;">Preheat oven to 300º Fahrenheit. I used a toaster oven.</span></div>
</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCkD8FuXRENq0seRMB0bArZwhbyDrGdOEK776K-94bN7dNryTJAlT1woaQWURPkmWZgBf81TbQIFwgHhewgoESYnouZG7z-IiVo5aae_jGAfkGzqCNo3st7mHL7vgaF7qTFq66Pb07H-A/s1600/IMG_1650.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCkD8FuXRENq0seRMB0bArZwhbyDrGdOEK776K-94bN7dNryTJAlT1woaQWURPkmWZgBf81TbQIFwgHhewgoESYnouZG7z-IiVo5aae_jGAfkGzqCNo3st7mHL7vgaF7qTFq66Pb07H-A/s320/IMG_1650.JPG" width="320" /></span></a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: left;">Using the whisk attachment in a hand blender, beat the egg(s) until foamy and doubled in volume.</span></div>
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In a double boiler over low heat, melt the chocolate and butter until it is incorporated. I added a sprinkling of sea salt to bring out the chocolate flavor.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrFn4EAbmL0-wECh4LAJZWfq4LLcqqhXMQ2LStp0T4L45ey9fDEp83pHUgYTpgZ41ftnKPI4C45yoi9CXOlKbsqde2hBXcohJP8kOwpbyseRl1dKe_X7aorQ9eoYFlpQt75n3X8OCjtQ/s1600/IMG_1633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrFn4EAbmL0-wECh4LAJZWfq4LLcqqhXMQ2LStp0T4L45ey9fDEp83pHUgYTpgZ41ftnKPI4C45yoi9CXOlKbsqde2hBXcohJP8kOwpbyseRl1dKe_X7aorQ9eoYFlpQt75n3X8OCjtQ/s320/IMG_1633.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Slowly add the beaten egg to the chocolate, one spoonful at a time.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJUC4F28cyMz19f__BZ6Zi31G_OuvAfvBIkXl0mq4Dspw_KtCtmWoS0rHzafsRvR26OCuWtgJRjeZ3AtXnXDKKwESl_pzMLgDISzk5QQQWkRHMoiG77LLKsiLuZq6aHkAjPpQ6fXES0dw/s1600/IMG_1635.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJUC4F28cyMz19f__BZ6Zi31G_OuvAfvBIkXl0mq4Dspw_KtCtmWoS0rHzafsRvR26OCuWtgJRjeZ3AtXnXDKKwESl_pzMLgDISzk5QQQWkRHMoiG77LLKsiLuZq6aHkAjPpQ6fXES0dw/s320/IMG_1635.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pour into single-serving ramekin(s) </span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfu9egVBzxHAdv68thCGY2M4a9HEFzX38wkKiiHLfsVnVbeADVmWyFpsS0hNCnQb82MlZ64opCxZg9tX2PyN01y4En692tzxsUCuFnIPOeMS1yyg6VLcTq2uTVU6F15p_EoJFstWA4i6k/s1600/IMG_1639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfu9egVBzxHAdv68thCGY2M4a9HEFzX38wkKiiHLfsVnVbeADVmWyFpsS0hNCnQb82MlZ64opCxZg9tX2PyN01y4En692tzxsUCuFnIPOeMS1yyg6VLcTq2uTVU6F15p_EoJFstWA4i6k/s320/IMG_1639.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pour boiling water into the bottom of a baking dish, and lay your ramekin(s) in the water bath:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_mr8d6-Au7TaqtZRdIhwTIDztlN9Cy_QFTb6kBkSLfRYBfffc4EoOgoto_XDZsWhJr187A0doM8DlvcEDWEMUqxbV_tbbExZI5ERLu88vl26Su52U8KdSdBytBfDCdrHsRJvuHRlhtE/s1600/IMG_1641.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_mr8d6-Au7TaqtZRdIhwTIDztlN9Cy_QFTb6kBkSLfRYBfffc4EoOgoto_XDZsWhJr187A0doM8DlvcEDWEMUqxbV_tbbExZI5ERLu88vl26Su52U8KdSdBytBfDCdrHsRJvuHRlhtE/s320/IMG_1641.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bake at 300º for 15 minutes. They will look a bit soft in the center when you remove them from the oven. This is normal. The batter will set silky smooth when you refrigerate it.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Refrigerate for several hours, or overnight.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAW56oEj4Kd-CGGtrMyxzAqneK11EyJhPds7uiMPIeNIiU0TZDE29wvYgyHwflRqXR0hF1V5YDUPRIotBuUzsGm1Owzklh2HqCUbs_mQaT9cXuzAbz7IME-2KdDm6W2tjG1_SyRCft28s/s1600/IMG_1642.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAW56oEj4Kd-CGGtrMyxzAqneK11EyJhPds7uiMPIeNIiU0TZDE29wvYgyHwflRqXR0hF1V5YDUPRIotBuUzsGm1Owzklh2HqCUbs_mQaT9cXuzAbz7IME-2KdDm6W2tjG1_SyRCft28s/s320/IMG_1642.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Top with whipped cream and enjoy!</span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEholy3esO788LryVcniuEYeUrnyIvLZiax7-OBXMKib94IdPx1KMnxunNIv_5ISmWOoHrXP3rwpMixIGBGasCivBoc6U-a3tSoBnB6MvDft3juOreLTrV4cxYKKml1edeA76niqRCerxr4/s1600/IMG_1645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEholy3esO788LryVcniuEYeUrnyIvLZiax7-OBXMKib94IdPx1KMnxunNIv_5ISmWOoHrXP3rwpMixIGBGasCivBoc6U-a3tSoBnB6MvDft3juOreLTrV4cxYKKml1edeA76niqRCerxr4/s320/IMG_1645.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
</div>
Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-43516497581803023182010-12-02T10:18:00.000-05:002013-01-30T17:42:29.160-05:00On Dry Aging Meat at Home: A Photo Essay<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This past Thanksgiving weekend, I was subjected to an unexpected visit from parents who live in another country, and whom I hadn't seen in four years. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The merits or liabilities of such an event aside, part of the visit involved, of course, feasting in a grand manner. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">On their last evening in NYC, my parents took my brother and his wife and daughter, Husband, and me to <a href="http://www.theposthouse.com/">The Post House</a> for a farewell dinner. This is one of New York City's most renowned steakhouses, and, as far as my father is concerned, a dining Mecca. They specialize in dry aged steaks, and they charge a serious price for them.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">"Dry aged beef." What a buzzword. We see it bandied about everywhere, from medium to top-priced restaurants, often worn as a badge of honor. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">But do we really known what dry aging really means?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">These steakhouses would have us believe that dry aging is some arcane secret, only available to those who have received extensive training, have complicated equipment, and therefore are allowed to charge mere mortals outrageous prices for the privilege of feasting on the product of their sorcery. They want you to believe that if you were to try doing it at home, it would kill you.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">If that were the case, Husband and I would have been dead a year ago.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The reality is that dry aging is easy. You need meat, a rack, and a fridge. And patience.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Dry aging is the art of turning an ordinary piece of meat into a sublime experience by putting it in the fridge and ignoring it for a minimum of three weeks. The meat will lose some moisture, which will concentrate and intensify the flavor. Also, the enzymes inside the meat will begin to break down the fibers, and tenderize the meat. The less polite definition is that dry aged meat is just meat that is in the early stages of decomposition, but it is controlled decomposition.<br />
<br />
Here is what I do:<br />
<br />
1. Make room in the refrigerator for a large rectangular rack. Mine is a double-tier 11" x 17" cookie cooling rack. It MUST be a rack, because you want the meat to have air around it all the time.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://dyn-images.hsn.com/is/image/HomeShoppingNetwork/961223?$pd500$" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://dyn-images.hsn.com/is/image/HomeShoppingNetwork/961223?$pd500$" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I can fit a slab of strip loin and a slab of ribeye on this rack and age them simultaneously.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">2. Get a full slab of beef from your local meat provider. Costco carries some lovely varieties. I have aged ribeye, strip (top loin) and sirloin. It can be bone-in or boneless. If you want to make prime rib for Christmas, then bone-in is nicer. Prime grade is nice, but Choice grade turns out just as delicious after the aging process. You want the WHOLE piece in the cryovac plastic wrapper. It will be about 15 pounds. Bring it home.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2956_zpsea654e0c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2956_zpsea654e0c.jpg" width="400" /></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">3. Unwrap the meat in your sink, and dry it off completely with paper towels.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2963_zpsea40e4cc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2963_zpsea40e4cc.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">4. Place the meat on the rack in the refrigerator, bone-side down if bone-in. I do fat-side down if boneless. It drips less into the bottom of the fridge, or the meat that's in the bottom rack.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2969_zpscb7007ce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2969_zpscb7007ce.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">5. Here comes the hard part: Ignore the meat for a minimum of 3 weeks (the longest I've had a steak aging was 9-1/2 weeks, but that was the end of a slab that we started cutting into after four weeks). It will get ugly on the outside, really ugly: dark, dry, even a bit moldy. Do not fear. This is nature creating a wrapper of beef jerky to protect the tender steak inside.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2921_zps8a41bfa1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2921_zps8a41bfa1.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2922_zpsa881ac6e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2922_zpsa881ac6e.jpg" width="300" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">6</span>. When you are ready to eat the meat, slice off from the end however much you need. It can be a single steak, or it can be the whole slab for a big party. The inside of the meat will have turned a lovely deep burgundy. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2942_zpsbe4c2492.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2942_zpsbe4c2492.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Here you can see the contrast between the scary outside and the succulent inside: </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2943_zpsb3275e83.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2943_zpsb3275e83.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">7</span>. Trim off the leathery outside from the meat.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2948_zpsa544d58a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2948_zpsa544d58a.jpg" width="300" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The scraps look like this:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2952_zps234f7e70.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2952_zps234f7e70.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">If you have a dog, feed him the scraps, and he will love you forever.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/Photoon2010-11-28at1716_zps31516f02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/Photoon2010-11-28at1716_zps31516f02.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> <br /> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">8</span>. Now you are ready to cook the steaks. This takes some experimentation, until you get the hang of it. Dry aged meat has less water than fresh meat, so it will cook faster. You will need to play with the temperature of your oven or stove, or the setting on your grill. For a prime rib roast, I would say to sear the outside at 500º F for 15 minutes, and then roast slowly at 325º or 300º until it reaches an internal temperature of about 125. If you don't have a meat thermometer, get one. IKEA sells a lovely (if fragile) one for about seven bucks. Don't do the usual 135º F recommended for non dry aged meat. Your roast will dry out and you will be very upset.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Here is a trimmed 2-bone, bone-in ribeye roast. It can feed anywhere from 2-5 people, depending on appetite levels and how much other food you are serving. </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2954_zps7970372e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2954_zps7970372e.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Here is the roast, cooked:</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2972_zps79a16d60.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2972_zps79a16d60.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Here is the roast, sliced:</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2976_zps207ce1df.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2976_zps207ce1df.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Dinner is served:</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2978_zps7f735028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Dry%20Aged%20Meat/IMG_2978_zps7f735028.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Bon appétit!</span></span></div>
Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-52551647398263820962010-10-26T18:21:00.000-04:002010-10-26T18:21:30.515-04:00Of Prime Importance<blockquote><i>If it is true that we are what we eat, doesn't it stand to reason that we should eat what we are?</i></blockquote><div><br />
</div>I have been craving meat over the past couple of weeks. <br />
<div><br />
</div><div>Now, this shouldn't be surprising, seeing as I was able to sustain a 15-month stint where I ate mostly meat and little else. Carnivory is an essential part of how I choose to nourish myself and live my life. But I realized that, in recent months, I had been letting my quota of deceased fauna fall below 50% of my overall intake.<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>There are varied reasons for this. One of them is that, after such a long time of just meat and nothing else, I've been wanting to experience the taste, texture, and general aura of non-animal foods, especially such delicacies as baked goods, fresh pastas, or fine chocolate. Seeing as I have limited capacity, these foods have been taking up a greater percentage of my daily fare and edging out the meat. Another reason is that oftentimes meat takes a lot more work to prepare than other alternatives. It's easy to grab a couple of slices of bread and slap some PB and jelly on them, but there are many times when I feel as if I have to overcome a huge hurdle of mental laziness in order to make myself cook a steak. </div><div><br />
</div><div>But, if I do that for too many days in a row, I find myself feeling draggy, moody, sluggish, and overall unwell. Even though I am not plagued by hunger and cravings like I used to be, I feel a general lowering of my energy levels and motivation. I go around feeling like it's a rainy day when the sun is shining brightly. In short, I feel like crap.</div></div><div><br />
</div><div>The physiological reasons for this are obvious: when I neglect to eat meat, I run on a protein deficit. The word "protein" is derived from the Greek word "Protos" which means "of prime importance." Second only to water, it is the most plentiful substance in our bodies. It is the primary building block of our anatomy, and as such it really needs to be the mainstay of our nutritional profile. A protein deficit means that you're living in a house made of straw or sticks, instead of one made of brick. Eat one of those three little piggies and you'll be good to go.</div><div><br />
</div><div>And the most efficient and effective way to get that protein in is by consuming meat. Steak, sausage, bacon, pork chops, lamb, chicken, fish, shrimp. If it once had a face, it's probably good for you. Yes, yes, it is possible to construct a nutritionally complete meat-free diet, but it's too much work and I'm too damn lazy. And, even though I sometimes find myself feeling too lazy too cook meat, I'm way more lazy about trying to do vegetarianism with any sort of nutritional thoroughness. When I think of it this way, cooking meat feels like a walk in the park.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Getting enough meat into my diet doesn't mean at all that I have to exclude other foods. Other foods aren't the enemy, if they're not undermining my meat quota. But I have to remember to choose my meals based on meat first, sides second, treats last. If I get full on the meat, oh, well, the other stuff will have to wait until I'm hungry again... if there's room left after the meat portion of the next meal. <br />
<br />
Instead of a salad with pieces of chicken, it is preferable to have a substantial serving of chicken with a side salad. Sausage and eggs instead of that very tempting chocolate croissant for breakfast. A portion of meat with a small side of pasta, instead of a large bowl of pasta with tomato sauce and a sprinkling of ground beef. Or, if the mood strikes, just one big steak with a glass of wine on the side. <br />
<br />
Part of my new approach to eating is about pure, unadulterated, hedonistic enjoyment. But, if I am feeling physically undermined because I'm not feeding my body an adequate proportion of the primary fuel, then nothing is as enjoyable as it could be.<br />
<br />
That being said, there's steak for dinner. </div>Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-17605748805768035022010-10-23T23:52:00.000-04:002010-10-23T23:52:05.155-04:00The Zen of Eating<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />I have been quiet for the past few weeks. It's not that I've stopped eating, or thinking about food, or enjoying it to the greatest extent possible. It isn't even my general laziness about everything in life that's keeping me from writing on here. <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It's really that I'm having difficulty articulating this next, and extremely important concept of the new mindset I am endeavoring to embrace for the rest of my life. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The concept is the zen of eating. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">New-Age culture is full of yoga, meditation, tree-hugging, and Zen. Zen is essentially a philosophy of living in the moment, focusing fully on the here and now, without attaching excessive significance to those things beyond our immediate reach, physically, temporally, or emotionally. It is not about disregarding circumstances or consequences or living in a la-la-land where what is outside of what we are doing immediately doesn't exist. But it is about devoting the greater part of our senses and mental energy into whatever we are doing immediately at any given time. Focus. Presence. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In our fast-paced society, where we are doing three or four things at once, focus and presence are forgotten practices, quaint throwbacks to a time in the past when dividing our attention between the television, computer, conversation, and dinner was neither a temptation nor a requirement. Heck, it wasn't even an option. But these days, multitasking is the default setting for most of us. Talking on the phone while driving, texting while out at lunch with a friend, browsing the Web while we run back and forth to the stove to stir the dinner stew, listening to audiobooks to double up "reading" with household chores, and eating in front of the television. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I am not saying that all of these practices are in themselves bad. I cannot emphasize the value that audiobooks have in my life, as they allow me to read AND clean at the same time, and they entertain me when I have to drive a long distance. And, when you have five whole minutes of pure waiting while the stew simmers, connecting with your friends on Facebook or reading your favorite blog is a good use of time. Don't get me wrong. I'm not likely to give up multitasking any more than I'm likely to give up eating meat. But the truth is that dividing our attention does end up not allowing us to delve in full depth into any of the activities that we are attempting to combine into a single chunk of time. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It is also an unfortunate reality of our time that eating has fallen so far below other "priorities" that many of us seldom do more than take a few minutes to put some food in front of us, and proceed to shove it in our faces to quell hunger pangs while we tend to other "more important" activities, such as driving to the office, working at our desk, checking kids' homework at suppertime, or catching up with our favorite TV shows. Eating has been relegated to some place below putting on makeup or making sure that Bobby didn't forget his soccer cleats. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Think of how dumb that is. Aside from breathing, eating is the most important thing we do. If you don't breathe, you die. If you don't eat, you die. It may take you longer to die from not eating than to die from not breathing, but the ultimate outcome is the same: you die. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">By relegating eating to the role of a background chore, we are downplaying the real importance it has to our lives, and to life in general. I believe that this is one of the reasons our society is plagued with eating disorders (and overeating <b>IS</b> an eating disorder). We are not allowing ourselves to notice when we are hungry, what or how much we are eating, and when we have had enough. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In an effort to enjoy freedom from dieting while avoiding careening out of control like I did between 1995 and 2001 (during which period I gained 60 pounds), I am beginning to understand the importance of bringing eating into its proper place in my life. I already discussed eating only when hungry in a previous blog entry. But eating for hunger isn't enough. I'm discovering how important it is to bring eating into the foreground of my consciousness, every single time. And the best way I have found to accomplish this is to be Zen while I eat. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What exactly does this mean? To me, it means to focus all my senses into the activity of eating, as soon as I decide to do it. Which usually is as soon as I feel hungry enough to interrupt what I am doing to prepare and consume a meal. It means that I take a few moments before deciding WHAT to eat, to check in with my body and consult as to the nature and size of my upcoming meal, and sometimes that steak dinner I had thought I wanted actually gets pushed back in favor of the leftover soup. It involves creating an environment that allows me to focus on my meal without other major impositions on my attention, such as the computer (not eating in front of the TV would require getting a divorce, so I modify that practice). It means that, when a bite enters my mouth, my job is to pay my full attention to that bite, chewing, tasting, savoring, and swallowing it completely before I proceed to the next bite. It means being fully present with my food, every time I eat. It means that I make sure that the moment is between me and my food. Other things and other people fade into the background, other concerns become unimportant to the moment, and eating and enjoying my food is the only thing of any significance right then and there.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It is also a royal pain in the ass.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">There are times when I seriously can't be bothered with paying attention to what my body wants, and I am all too ready to just grab what's in front of me, out of sheer laziness. Separating myself from my laptop for the short time it takes to fuel my body often feels like a feat of superhuman willpower. And why do I have to wait until I've swallowed this bite before I can put the next one in my mouth? Why can't I have a continuous flow of food from lips to gullet, like I have done my entire life? </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">To be honest, there are times when I surrender to my baser impulses and lifelong habits, and I rebel against Zen eating. But I am always reminded of why I pursue it. Every single time. The reminders take the form of indigestion, brain fog, headaches, bloating, and a host of other forms of physical as well as emotional discomfort. And this form of retribution is much more immediately apparent, since I have been cultivating the habit of being present and aware with my body, when I am eating, and when I am not.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">For anyone who has spent decades eating mindlessly, Zen eating takes practice. One doesn't go from unconscious gobbling to full sensory focus in one day, or even one year. It takes stumbling and getting back up. It takes learning to negotiate the balance between a busy life and the need to take time to focus on nourishing yourself. To someone like me, this is hard work.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">But, oh, so worth it.</div>Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-77540809605111424202010-10-09T22:29:00.000-04:002010-10-09T22:46:05.811-04:00Fall is here: Curry Pumpkin Soup with Kielbasa!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tonight, I made an awesome curried pumpkin soup with kielbasa. It was embarrassingly easy and oh so awesome.<br />
<br />
For two hearty main-course servings:<br />
<br />
1 medium onion<br />
2 large shallots<br />
4 tablespoons butter<br />
1 tablespoon curry powder<br />
1 15-oz can pumpkin puree (NOT PIE FILLING)<br />
2 cups chicken broth<br />
2 tablespoons tomato paste<br />
1 tablespoon soy sauce<br />
1/2 cup half-and-half<br />
1/2 pound fully-cooked kielbasa, diced<br />
<br />
In a heavy sauce pan over medium heat, sauté onions and shallots in butter until they are soft and golden. Add curry powder and mix thoroughly. Add broth, pumpkin, tomato paste, and soy sauce. Heat thoroughly. Place in blender or food processor, or blend with a stick blender. Add half-and-half and diced kielbasa and warm through.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">No photos, alas. It didn't last long enough for pictures. It was that good.</span>Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-67788879142106573782010-10-09T11:36:00.000-04:002010-10-09T16:53:02.715-04:00One Bite At A Time<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cupcakes are all the rage these days. Sophisticated urbanites will line up at chi-chi boutique bakeries, for the privilege of paying several dollars to indulge in a single-serving revisitation of an ordinary childhood delight. Cupcakes have the one-portion pastry appeal without the pretentiousness of a chocolate ganache bombe or a passion-fruit-mousse tartlet on pâte brisée... Pure, uncomplicated sweet comfort, and you don't even have to open the box of cake mix. And the best part: no leftovers.</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cupcakes have become so popular that a whole industry has sprung up around them. Chains such as </span><a href="http://crumbs.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crumbs</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> have popped up all over the place. It is nearly impossible to walk 10 Manhattan blocks without coming across either a franchise or an independently-owned "original" cupcake shop. Everyone wants a flash back to the third grade.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Except me.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a sweet treat as much as the next person. I, too, enjoy the appeal of being transported back to a more carefree time in my life by simply biting into a hand-sized mound of frosted, moist, crumbly goodness. And I do happen to like cupcakes. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But, because in recent times I have been operating on limited capacity, I find most cupcakes to be way too big. I usually start a meal with the more substantial meat-and-veggies dishes. By the time I'm interested in eating sweets, I rarely have room for more than a few bites. Modern-trend cupcakes indulge in using oversized mega-muffin tins, are formulated to peak in super-tall mounds, and are frosted with thick layers of a mixture comprising of 100% butter and 100% sugar. So, appealing as they may seem in theory, the mere thought of having to face such a large dessert is off-putting from the start. Most of the major cupcake retailers have a few miniature versions of their more popular flavors, but in order to acquire them, you must purchase at least a 6-pack. Fail on two counts: I resent being strong-armed into settling for the more ordinary flavors just because I don't want to commit to a behemoth cupcake, and if I wanted to buy six goddamn mini-cupcakes, I would have bought a big one instead.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Enter </span><a href="http://barringtonbites.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Barrington Bites</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> in Great Barrington, MA. They specialize EXCLUSIVELY in bite-sized cupcakes. They do NOT make "full-sized" cakes. They offer more than 50 flavors, available on order. When you walk into their location and want a cupcake, you only need to buy one. Each one is two bites for me, or one modest gobble for Husband. We had a vanilla chai-spice one and a double chocolate one. They were both outstanding. One of the dangers of miniature baked goods is that you have to be very precise about ratios and baking time and temperature, or you will end up with a dry and overbaked cake. Barrington Bites have a very moist cake that's not excessively dense, the frosting is sweet and fatty, but whipped enough that it doesn't squash the cake, and an ideal balance of cake to frosting. The flavorings in the batter and frosting were fragrant and intense without being overwhelming. And they were small enough to eat the whole thing without exceeding my ability to enjoy it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is a small picture I lifted from their website.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Screenshot2010-10-08at101753PM-1.png?t=1286590847" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="116" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/Screenshot2010-10-08at101753PM-1.png?t=1286590847" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Barrington Bites is currently located inside <a href="http://www.thechefsshop.com/">The Chef's Shop</a> in Great Barrington. I look forward to seeing their business grow enough that I can find them in Boston or Manhattan.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I think the two-bite dessert concept is right on target. Two-bite brownies have great appeal, but I balk at paying $5 for a box of 25 two-bite brownies. I'd be happier paying a dollar for a single one.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-35263974540247698702010-10-05T10:33:00.000-04:002010-10-05T10:33:34.215-04:00The Joy of Baking With JuliaIn the fall of 2001, I stopped baking bread. Which wouldn't be such a remarkable event, had I not spent the previous 5 years exploring and perfecting the art of bread-baking, until such challenges as sourdough and bagels were a cinch, and a daily event.<br />
<br />
But, as I mentioned before, in the fall of 2001, I entered the realm of low-carb eating. Even when I wasn't "on-plan," I still did not indulge in the earthy pleasure of mixing, kneading, rising, baking, cooling, slicing, and eating yeast-dough based concoctions. For the better part of a decade, I deprived myself and my loved ones of the exquisite aroma that can only be achieved by baking fresh bread at home.<br />
<br />
Still, it was not without trepidation that I re-entered the world of bread-baking. Kind of silly, actually, since bread baking is EASY. I guess my general mental laziness was raising pre-emptive objections to the time-consuming, detail-oriented nature of the task, not to mention having to clean up the floured counter more than once.<br />
<br />
I had read somewhere on the Internet about a "no-knead bread" recipe. Although it seemed like an ideal way to reacquaint myself with the wonders of bread-baking, I was skeptical at first. I believed that kneading was necessary in order to achieve any sort of edible texture. But the general consensus in the recipe reviews was that this recipe was a winner. I figured that if it sucked, all I lost was 3 cups of flour and a pinch of salt and yeast. The biggest part of the process is waiting 12-18 hours for the first rise, and 2 hours for the second rise, so it does take quite a bit of advance planning if you want to have fresh bread for breakfast.<br />
<br />
The bread was simply awesome. Crusty, chewy, rustic like those loaves you get at overpriced artisanal bakeries. It has a hearty crumb, and a sourdough-like flavor that belies the simplicity of the preparation. Heavenly with fresh butter, and even better dipped in olive oil. Husband and I devoured half a loaf immediately. It also serves well to make sandwiches, French toast, or bread pudding. It's great as an accompaniment to a warm bowl of soup on a chilly evening. Spread a thin layer of Nutella on it and you're transported back to Paris, whether you've ever been there or not.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://steamykitchen.com/168-no-knead-bread-revisited.html">THIS IS THE RECIPE I USED</a><br />
<br />
Here's a couple of pictures of my first finished loaf:<br />
<a href="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs436.snc4/47889_469184644202_673499202_6711261_5594955_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs436.snc4/47889_469184644202_673499202_6711261_5594955_n.jpg" width="320" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"></span></a><a href="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs215.ash2/47855_469228879202_673499202_6712243_4751690_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs215.ash2/47855_469228879202_673499202_6712243_4751690_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
Still, lovely as this bread is, it doesn't replace the square slices we are used to when it comes to making lunchbox sandwiches. For that, I was going to have to use a traditional, kneaded-bread recipe. I did a lot of searching on the internet for the best white sandwich bread recipe. There are literally millons of recipes out there. I needed something that didn't have oats, or rye, or potato flour, or anything that I didn't already have in my kitchen. <br />
<br />
Luck would have it that I had all the ingredients for <a href="http://www.food.com/recipe/julia-childs-white-bread-9032">JULIA CHILD'S WHITE BREAD</a> recipe, from the book "Baking with Julia." Good old Julia. I know from experience that, if you follow her recipes to the letter, you will not be disappointed in the results. Seriously. The first Julia Child recipe I ever tried was her hand-beaten Hollandaise, on a lovely Easter Sunday after having survived the wringer of Holy Week services at an Episcopal church. Julia came through with her Hollandaise. Seriously, her recipes cannot fail.<br />
<br />
Back to the bread. This recipe, like most typical kneaded loaves, takes upwards of three hours to make from start to finish. And, unlike the no-knead bread, ignoring it for a long time isn't part of the process. Yes, there is waiting involved, but you can't walk away from home or go to sleep while the bread rises.<br />
<br />
The final result was worthy of Saint Julia. Soft texture, even crumb, delicate flavor that carries fillings without overwhelming them. It made an awesome chicken salad sandwich for me, and some really really lovely toast for Husband's fried eggs and bacon.<br />
<br />
Here is a picture:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://food.sndimg.com/img/recipes/90/32/large/picDZ9rBH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://food.sndimg.com/img/recipes/90/32/large/picDZ9rBH.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The only downside to this recipe is that it turns out two large loaves. This is good if you have a large family taking sandwiches to work and school on a daily basis. Husband and I don't eat enough bread to finish even one loaf in the space of a week. Next time, I'll halve the recipe. Fortunately, we have a houseguest coming to visit this week, and we can send him home with the excess.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Both of these recipes are total keepers.</div>Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-44601046446945083892010-10-02T21:35:00.000-04:002010-10-02T21:35:38.219-04:00Boundless Possibilities, Limited CapacityToday was the first nice day in a while. Or, at least it seemed so, because the last time the sun was out, I had to be at work. But today was a Saturday, and it was that sunny, cool autumn weather, perfect for a drive out in the country, especially with the top down--one of the rare advantages of living out in the middle of nowhere. Our original destination was eastern CT, but we took a detour through Newtown, to visit the recently open branch of <a href="http://www.themeathouse.com/">The Meat House</a>. "Your Neighborhood Butcher," they call themselves. But they are that and so much more. Although their main focus is the butcher counter, they also carry a broad array of fresh local vegetables, artisanal cheeses, locally produced homemade soups, pasta sauces, dips, baked goods, dairy products, and much more. Their staff is knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and their prices are, surprisingly, not unreasonable considering the quality they offer.<br />
<br />
Husband and I, foodies that we are, were thrilled to have discovered this gem in our backyard. We were tempted to buy pretty much one of everything. The tomatoes were so red and fragrant. The soups looked custom-made for a chilly fall evening. Spices, brownies, ice cream... and, of course, the meats. <br />
<br />
It took all our self-restraint to walk away with only one pound of bacon, a bag of baby brussels sprouts, and one miniature apple pie. Oh, and they gifted us with a sample of their marinated steak tips.<br />
<br />
After a lifetime of restricted eating, and the recent entry into a world of unlimited choices, it is easy to go a bit crazy buying all of those foods that you have been meaning to try for years. Husband and I went through a phase during which we were overwhelmed with a backlog of food ideas that we wanted to implement. You name it, we wanted (and still want) to make it. Our fridge was fast filling up with all sorts of foods, many of which shamefully ended up tossed because we didn't get around to them. Others are still cluttering the freezer. <br />
<br />
Not to mention the myriad restaurants that are now open to me.<br />
<br />
However, since I am endeavoring to <a href="http://the-joy-of-food.blogspot.com/2010/09/eat-only-when-hungry.html">eat only when hungry</a>, the reality is that my opportunities to realize all of these culinary and gastronomic concepts is seriously curtailed. I experience hunger twice, or perhaps three times a day. And this hunger is usually satisfied with a small to moderate amount of food. The idea of a dinner consisting of an appetizer, main dish with sides, and dessert is, frankly, not very appealing most days. <br />
<br />
The upshot of this is that I have to be very particular when choosing the foods I eat. I am a realist, and acknowledge that, if hunger is the primary criterion I consider when eating, there will be times when hunger and scheduling will trump preference, and I'll end up eating at McDonald's. And that's okay. The majority of the time, I make sure that every bite I eat is a worthwhile experience. I choose high-quality ingredients, prepare them with care and respect, and try to focus fully on what's on my plate when I do sit down to a meal. <br />
<br />
It doesn't have to be complicated or hifalutin. It simply has to be fucking awesome. A plain ham and butter sandwich can be perfection itself when the elements are of the best quality, and when it is consumed with total attention. Just as the fanciest meal can be a waste of time and energy when it's prepared without attention to detail and eaten in a hurry, because we are focused on the next thing that's cluttering up our minds, or are multitasking and eating in front of the TV or computer. <br />
<br />
Since the opportunities and capacity are limited, I might as well experience boundless enjoyment from the few things I can chose at one time.Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-67243121292468934142010-09-30T23:16:00.000-04:002010-09-30T23:16:26.314-04:00Cornish Game Hens in Wine Sauce: A Video RecipeHere is a recipe I produced 4 years ago, and which I may make again soon, because it is so yummy. If you can't find the little cans of wine, you can use the small-size cans of V-8 or clam juice, rinsed thoroughly and filled with wine.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz8DIytLqDOFg-wJkHNSIGDooq1iA1J0YVPwGHI1lU2UqZpiLMGenfuKAEpcYx-63JtcMrv1iej7BSJw-aBwQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-28129726479963338902010-09-30T19:28:00.000-04:002010-09-30T20:37:18.647-04:00In Defense of Comfort FoodLast night, I ended up not going to bed until 2 a.m. This morning, I had to get up and trudge to work, sit in a horrid office with out of control AC and cantankerous software, and curse out the stupid database writers who have no comprehension of what a classical music lover needs when organizing a large CD collection. I had very little sleep, woke up late and in a hurry, and was generally unsettled most of the day. I knew it would be a short day at work, so I didn't bother with lunch. Plus, I had a slight tickle in my throat.<br />
<br />
Last night's blog entry, <a href="http://the-joy-of-food.blogspot.com/2010/09/food-is-not-your-dog.html">Food Is Not Your Dog</a>, was all about how it's not a good idea to turn to food to address emotional issues. I am of the firm opinion that the only time when it's really appropriate to eat is when your body is in need of fuel, although I'm not above engaging in my occasional bouts of inappropriateness in this and other areas of life.<br />
<br />
"Don't comfort yourself with food" is one of the maxims by which I am endeavoring to live. "<a href="http://the-joy-of-food.blogspot.com/2010/09/eat-only-when-hungry.html">Eat only when hungry</a>," as expounded on another entry. But although I am firmly against comforting oneself with food, this does not mean at all that I am against the concept of comfort food.<br />
<br />
There are those times when we are both emotionally or situationally unsettled AND in need of food. A household move. Exam time. A family bereavement. A fight with your spouse. At times such as these is when what we think as "comfort food" comes in. <br />
<br />
Chicken soup, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches with cream of tomato. Chicken pot pie, beef stew, scrambled eggs and toast, or even a bowl of plain white rice or mashed potatoes. When our minds and hearts are feeling too taxed by life, that is what we crave as fuel. Food that is undemanding of our senses or effort. Easy to eat, easy to digest, without much complication in the way of flavor, texture, or even color. Food that is easy on the mind as well as on the gut. Food that will gently nourish your body when you are hungry, so that you can get on with the business of facing whatever troubles you when you are not.Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-19186921841924770302010-09-30T01:37:00.000-04:002012-10-14T23:06:28.835-04:00Food is Not Your Dog<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've had a seriously crappy evening. Even though it wasn't necessarily up there vying for first place with some other craptacular days of my life, it's the kind of day that makes you want to run for the hills and never come back.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For starters, I seem to have misplaced a crucial piece of paperwork, which would have apprised me of a very important deadline--which I may or may not have missed. Then, Husband came home in a foul mood, which was compounded by the issue of the missing paperwork and the uncertainty over the deadline. I got a repeat invoice for some home repair work I already paid, and it looks like it's going to rain for the next three days, which will cut into my dog walking time...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To top it all off, I was made aware of the fact that I had become the object of unprovoked vitriol and personal attacks by people with whom I had parted ways some time ago...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How can so many crappy things come crashing down in such a short time?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was actually quite upset and rattled, especially when I learned of the attacks against me. Who made them and what they said is frankly immaterial, and relevant only insofar as it upset me.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In the past, I would have considered this kind of a day as a valid reason to order a large pizza, and eat it by myself, washed down with a bottle of wine. I would have used my emotional upset as an excuse to eat a whole bag of cookies and at least two quarts of milk. Or, at the very least, I would have made myself one very large, strong, and sugary girly drink to "settle my nerves."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I did nothing of the sort. Not that the thought of the bottle of wine or the strong girly drink didn't cross my mind, but I got distracted and never got around to it. As for eating? Well, I wasn't hungry. I had already had dinner. Yes, all this crap came down in the space of about an hour, after I had already had a long and frustrating day dealing with poorly designed, glitchy data editing software. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I chatted with friends, I worked on this blog, I folded laundry and listened to a book on my iPod, I made peace with Husband, and I hugged my dog. After a while, I felt much better. If I had followed through on the pizza or the cookies or a myriad other similar options, I would have been just as upset as before, plus I'd be feeling the effects of abusing my body with an excess of unnecessary food. I am so done with that.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Food is not your friend to listen to you. That pizza will not join you in being angry at those who wronged you. That gallon of ice cream won't tell you that stupid joke that's sure to make you smile. Those cookies will not put their arms around you and let you cry it out, nor will that bag of chocolate candies lick the tears off your face. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Food is not your dog. And I bet your dog is glad that he is not your food.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-7139904208854149922010-09-28T20:57:00.000-04:002012-10-14T22:49:41.546-04:00Eat Only When Hungry<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, at the start of this summer (2010, for the record), I lifted all eating restrictions on myself. I would from this moment forward face all food as equally valuable in its nourishing qualities. I would remove the judgments of "good for me" or "bad for me." I would eat when I liked, what I liked, however much I liked.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This isn't the first time I've attempted this. Between 1995 and 2001, I adopted a "fat-accepting" and "no-diet" stance on life. It netted me a gain of 10 pounds per year (that's 60 pounds of pure fat, for those of you who are math challenged). I was sure fat-accepting. I was accepting fat to settle itself upon my hips and belly like there was no tomorrow. I became a firm supporter of the plus-size store cause... to the tune of a new, larger size every single year. I would try to tell myself that this was "natural fallout" from "quitting dieting." But I knew deep down that something was seriously wrong if I was doing that to myself when I wasn't restricting what I ate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Enter low-carb in 2001. It did help me shed most of the gains from the previous 6 years, but I sure as heck ain't skinny from it. Upping the ante and going all the way down to zero carb did NOTHING to help me in the size reduction department, as I already mentioned. To preserve my sanity, I was going to have to do something else, and I decided that this time, it would involve embracing all foods as worthy partners in my self-care efforts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But, this time, I realized I needed to approach the no-diet mindset with caution if I wanted to avoid ending up in disaster like the last time. At first, the only logical answer seemed to be to keep tabs on my eating, using a nutritional tracking website. Of course, it's impossible to keep track of such matters if you don't use a kitchen scale and measuring tools. At first it seemed like I was working on a puzzle, where I could fit whatever kind of piece (food) I wanted, as long as I stayed within a certain range. I was having fun. But it quickly turned into an exercise in OCD, where I fixated on the numbers more and more, and was feeling hungrier and more deprived, regardless of what or how much I actually ate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, I ditched the measuring tools and tracking website. I was going to have to learn to trust myself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">*SHUDDER*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Seriously, the prospect of this had me cowering in fear. The notion that I would have to learn to navigate the world of eating without training wheels made me shake in my Converse hi-tops. But I also realized that learning to balance was PRECISELY about moving forward without the training wheels. And I also realized that I was not entirely without tools.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One of the good things I got from my time as a zero carber was the habit of eating only when hungry, and of being genuinely disinterested in food when I wasn't hungry. When you're eating only meat, this is actually easy. You have to be goddamn hungry in order to be willing to eat a naked steak with no sides. Still, I noticed that this habit carried over, even as I added more variety to my daily menu. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There is the common-sense dictum: "eat when hungry, stop when full." Seems simple enough, no? Not really. A large number of people (and a number of large people) have NO CLUE what hunger is, much less fullness. I felt that I had an advantage having learned genuine hunger during my year as an exclusive carnivore.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fullness? A bit trickier. When I ate only meat, I would keep eating until the next bite seemed a disgusting impossibility. This never left me feeling uncomfortably stuffed. Only unable to face another bite (of meat). However, it is now obvious to me that this was an inadequate way to gauge when it was time to stop eating. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The only logical thing to do was to stop eating when I was no longer hungry. Note that this doesn't mean "full." It simply means "not hungry." In a hunger scale of 1-10, in which 1 is "passed out from low blood glucose" and 10 means "can't breathe or I'll puke," "not hungry" is right there between 5 and 6. It's that neutral state between meals, in which you wouldn't stop what you are doing in order to stuff your face. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Most of us don't stop eating until we've reached a 7 or 8. When I was a kid, I'd push it all the way to 10.5 if I could get away with it...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But it struck me that, if I was no longer hungry, I shouldn't continue eating. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Shit. I don't want to stop eating when I'm just "not hungry."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"But it tastes so good." Get over it, there'll be something just as awesome if not better in front of you next time you actually ARE hungry.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"But what if I get hungry again?" Then eat again when you are hungry. It's that simple.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"But I've already paid for it, and if I don't eat it it will go to waste." It can go to waste, or it can go to waist. Your choice. Or would you prefer to do the job of the trash can?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, here is what I have been practicing recently: eat until no longer hungry (5 or 6 on the hunger scale), and wait 10-15 minutes. If, during that time, hunger returns. eat some more. If it doesn't return, then I don't eat again. Usually, I remain satiated for at least 6 hours after I do this. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If hunger returns an hour or two after dinner, then it's time for dessert.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have to admit that the hardest part of this for me is to cease the consumption of delicious food (because I make sure everything I eat is fucking awesome) while I am still capable of enjoying it. The only thing that helps me is the knowledge that, if I get hungry again, I can eat again, whatever I like, without feeling any fear or guilt.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And, I can say that it is working. I can eat when I am hungry, and I can eat whatever I like. In the few months that I have been doing this, I have been slowly digging clothes out of the "too small" box, rather than enduring the misery of ever tighter clothing, holding out until the blubber was spilling over my waistband, like the last time I tried "not dieting."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A freakin' miracle.</span>Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-24521994481099575202010-09-27T21:55:00.000-04:002010-09-28T08:03:01.527-04:00Life's Too Short to Live Without Chocolate<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The little box below my Facebook profile photo says:</span></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>I've been down many a culinary and dietary road, and, in the final analysis, I've decided that life's too short to live without chocolate.</i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It would appear as if chocolate itself was my gateway drug back into the world of carbohydrate consumption. Actually, it was sushi. But, I digress.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Life <b>IS</b> too short to live without chocolate. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are people who claim not to like chocolate. Generally, I think they are total freaks, but I try not to say it to their face. All I can say is that they are missing out in some seriously delicious stuff. Their loss.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I used to be all about sweet, creamy, milk chocolate, and I would gobble it in very large quantities. Somehow, the older I get, the darker I like it. My preference right now runs in the 72-75% range. I think it has much to do with the fact that I no longer eat chocolate in large amounts, but rather I take the time to savor one small piece at a time. When I do this, the sweeter confections taste excessively sugary, with not enough of the important stuff: chocolate.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Since my return to omnivory in late May of 2010, I have explored many varieties of chocolate: bars, truffles, dipped Oreo cookies, peanut butter cups, flourless chocolate torte, ice cream, even a Snickers bar after a strenuous hike up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. Hot chocolate, brownies, pain au chocolat, and, most recently, dulce de leche brownies. Oh, yeah, and Nutella. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Contrary to what one may be led to believe from the above list, I do not consume chocolate every day. But when I do, I make sure it's worth the experience. Actually, I do that with 95% of the food I choose to eat these days (I estimate that 5% of the time, I will settle for a less-than-stellar gastronomic experience in favor of not passing out). </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Since chocolate, indispensable as it is, usually does not find its way into my body as primary fuel, I can afford to be picky about it 100% of the time. If the first bite doesn't meet my standards for awesomeness, the second bite usually doesn't happen. Even if that means throwing away 9/10 of a $6 pastry. I'd rather throw out five bucks in the trash than have my body do the job of the trash can. I don't even see it as throwing money out. I see it as a $6 lesson in which pastry not to buy again. And, as lessons go, that's a pretty inexpensive one.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A month ago, Husband and I went to an Argentinian restaurant, where I bought a jar of authentic dulce de leche. For a month, the jar sat in the cupboard, waiting for me to get inspired to use it in <i>something</i>. So, I decided to use it in brownies. For the brownie base, I used an adaptation of the Ghirardelli brownie recipe that I developed in grad school, when I was out of Ghirardelli powder and had only plain Hershey's cocoa. You can use any kind of cocoa powder. If you use Dutch cocoa, such as Droste, you will have a deeper, richer flavor, but plain Hershey's cocoa will yield a perfectly scrumptious brownie.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I use a round pan for more even cooking. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is the recipe:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 eggs</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup sugar</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 teaspoon vanilla</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 oz butter, melted (I use salted butter. If using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2/3 cup all-purpose flour (DO NOT SIFT)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 cup cocoa powder</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/4 teaspoon baking powder</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup dulce de leche</span></li>
</ul><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Preheat oven to 350º Fahrenheit.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Line a the bottom of a 9" pan (round or square, whatever you have) with nonstick foil or parchment</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In a large bowl, mix eggs, sugar and vanilla. Add melted butter. In a separate bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Slowly add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Add the chocolate chips and mix well. Pour half the batter into pan. Scatter spoonfuls of dulce de leche into the batter, until you have used about half a cup. Use a knife to swirl the dulce slightly into the batter. Pour the second half of the batter, and repeat the dulce de leche application. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Put pan in the oven and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, until it is slightly set in the center. Cool thoroughly before serving.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is a very rich dessert, best consumed in small quantities, alongside a glass of cold milk. I tried it with vanilla ice cream. Too much.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And, because I'm a picture ho:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/DDLBrownies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/portdevoix/DDLBrownies.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span>Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-87342963147151833852010-09-27T11:30:00.000-04:002010-09-27T11:30:35.619-04:00Welcome Back to the World of the EatingAfter 15 months eating only meat, occasional eggs, a bit of butter, and altogether too much coffee with heavy whipping cream, the large majority of my friends were most delighted when I announced that I was returning to the world of omnivory.<br />
<br />
But this wasn't even a "return." I NEVER was allowed (or allowed myself) to consume all foods without judgment. Food was always "good" or "bad." If it tasted too good, it couldn't possibly be good for you. So, whenever I was "off my diet," I was indiscriminately inhaling anything that crossed my path, as long as I could breathe. Whether I was hungry didn't matter. Whether it was what I really wanted was of no import. Whether it even tasted any good was no concern of mine. If I wasn't "on my diet" and it was in front of me, I ate it. Furthermore, there was never a bite eaten that wasn't judged for its value in contributing to or detracting from my "health" (read = assfatness). Enjoyment was less a part of the equation than playing the role of obedient soldier or recalcitrant rebel by my eating choices. Jekyll/Hyde. And who was which depended on whether I was "on" or "off" whatever "eating plan" I was pursuing or not.<br />
<br />
I see this period of my life as my<b> initial entry</b> into the world of guilt-free gastronomic delectation. Because never before in my life have I approached food, all food, as a vehicle for nourishing myself in an integral fashion. <br />
<br />
As a housewarming gift into my new "home" of culinary and gastronomic freedom, my friend Dorene sent me a lovely collection of cookbooks. The centerpiece of this most awesome gift is the 1973 printing of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1." Seeing as Julie Powell already did the blogging about Julia thing, I'll let that one lie on its own merits. All I can say about Julia is that any recipe of hers that I have ever tried actually worked very well. <br />
<br />
I am looking forward to puttering around in this new playground that is the marvelous world of freedom in feeding myself.Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281770696608294114.post-70726814137632837082010-09-27T08:52:00.000-04:002010-09-28T16:13:15.767-04:00Not Just Another Foodie BlogFoodie blogs abound all over the Internet. There are blogs about cooking, about restaurants, about gross packaged scary foods. If you can eat it, someone's written about it. So, why do another one? Why am I so special?<br />
<br />
I'm a fat girl. I've been a fat girl since puberty. I've been an overeater since I can remember. There doesn't seem to have been a time in my life in which I haven't fought with my weight and my size and my eating.<br />
<br />
Until now.<br />
<br />
After a 15-month stint on a very strict, all-meat regimen, which, when I am honest with myself, I was following in a desperate hope to become magically lean, I was still just as fat when I started. In that year and a quarter of eschewing all carbohydrate consumption, my net loss of body fat was a big fat zero. I lost a bit at first, and then it all came back when I tried to speed things up by eating only one meal a day. Craziness.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">Zero carb had promised me the miracle of absolution from calorie math. It did not deliver on this promise.</div><br />
<br />
I realized one very simple fact that I was refusing to see: if you eat too much, it has to go somewhere. In my case, that somewhere was my gut, thighs, and ass. If you want those bulky appendages to become more streamlined, you have to reduce the sheer volume of what you stuff down your gullet.<br />
<br />
Despite the fact that I did have tons of fun eating assloads of meat at a sitting, I stared with dismay at the simple reality of life. I was not one of the lucky ones who can be absolved from calorie math simply by restricting intake to only one kind of substance.<br />
<br />
And, since keeping tabs on the volume of food I was snarfing was now a requirement, choosing my food from only 0.0005% of edible matter completely ceased to make any sense whatsoever. If I have to manage the amounts I eat anyway, I might as well eat what I like.<br />
<br />
But this is not another diet blog. Quite the opposite. After the year-plus on zero carb, the last thing I want to do is diet. <br />
<br />
<strong>Neither do I want to abuse myself with gratuitous excess.</strong><br />
<br />
And here is where I am at: seeking to find internal balance while acknowledging and embracing my consuming passion for food (or is that my passion for consuming food?). In fact, I am seeking this internal balance BY MEANS of my enjoyment in food, cooking, and eating. <br />
<br />
In her most recent book, "Women, Food, and God," Geneen Roth says that basically everything about how you relate to the Universe can be elucidated from the way you relate to the food on your plate. It seems a little simplistic at first glance, but, when you examine the statement, she hits the nail right on the head. Eating is the most basic way in which we avail ourselves of the resources from the Universe. When this relationship is out of balance, we find ourselves out of balance, too.<br />
<br />
In this blog, I will be writing primarily about food and eating, but this, of course, relates to everything else I do in life. Recipes, restaurants, reflections, ponderings, and a bit of this and that thrown in.<br />
<br />
One bite at a time.Carolina Kipnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019957940939971154noreply@blogger.com3